Lille trapped in Lorient before returning to the Champions League

The match: Lille too crumbly

It’s unclear if LOSC were better than average after the break, when they finally pushed Lorient back to their goal and created enough chances to score a second goal. Last spring, this highlight would undoubtedly have been enough. But there, the heads of Botman on a corner landed next (63rd) then on the skull of Nardi (72nd) and the strike of Yilmaz, shifted by David, just come into play, fled the frame (81st).

And as the defensive strength evaporated this summer, this more convincing second half came to naught. On the contrary, the infernal Moffi (87th) came to punish the northern errors at the reception of a center of Le Goff. A fair reward for the Hakes, who retreated after the break but should have just switched to the break with a goal in advance, at least.

Because it is an understatement to say that the first Lille period was very sluggish. Even after the equalizer on a penalty from Yilmaz that the Turkish striker had generously obtained by throwing himself at the feet of Laporte (25th), the, LOSC displayed his doubts and let FC Lorient get the best opportunities.

In addition to the goal of Laurienté, at the end of an action where Moffi had won three defenders of Lille out of four (7th), the Merlus created danger by Laurienté, again (13th, 40th), and the half-volley of Igor Silva ran into Grbic (40th). Always following the same pattern, or almost: the power of Moffi, the movements of Laurienté and a Lille rearguard out of phase every second. At half-time, therefore, the parity score was very well paid for the LOSC, which ended up settling the bill at the very end of the match.

The fact: Angel Gomes got away with it, Lille too

When Angel Gomes was penalized with a new fault in front of the Lorient area (58th), Jocelyn Gourvennec turned to his bench to accelerate his replacement: the sole of the English attacking midfielder on Laporte deserved a yellow card and the former player , warned in the 44th for a similar gesture on Abergel, had narrowly escaped this same sanction in the wake (45th). Mr. Turpin then verbally told him that he had toast his joker, but he apparently did not see the gesture that left Laporte for a few minutes on the ground.

The “timely” exit of Angel Gomes may have prevented LOSC from ending the game at ten. This fact of play reinforced the Stade du Moustoir in the feeling that the refereeing was rather favorable to the defending French champion, this Friday evening. He awarded a penalty to Yilmaz, who had above all sought to hit the legs of Laporte (25th). But he did not give one to the Merlus for this ball cleared by Yazici in the arm of Fonte (45th + 3). In this second case, he was quite right. In the first, he was quite wrong. But that’s three facts of the game in the same match judged in favor of the same team.

The player: Laurienté asserts itself

Of course, Armand Laurienté is not doing everything well. And, when he was replaced by Grbic (81st), he had just sent a too soft pass to Igor Silva after having brilliantly turned towards the goal (77th). An action as a summary of the progress that the 22-year-old striker has yet to accomplish: in the second half, under the effect of fatigue, he was less effective.

After his little festival in front of Djalo to center back towards Monconduit (49th), he continued to show his ability to move well across the width and was at the heart of the best movements, but he missed his head on the reception of a center of Mendes (70th). His first period, enhanced by a goal, his second of the season, showed that he had the means to take over the heavy succession of Wissa, who paired up with Moffi last year: it was he who s’ is procured the best opportunities, in collaboration with his friend. And if Moffi set the winning goal (87th), he was far from being alone in front, this Friday at the Moustoir.